<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>After The End by okemmelie</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27643415">After The End</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/okemmelie/pseuds/okemmelie'>okemmelie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supernatural</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fix-It, M/M, canon adjacent per the final episode, it was supposed to be a joke but then i got hit by nostalgia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:28:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,312</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27643415</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/okemmelie/pseuds/okemmelie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What do you do after the end of something you've worked so hard to stop? After it's all over? Dean suggests a pie festival. The world suggests mimics, who turns out to be vampires. How lame. But even after the end, strange things can happen. Strange, wonderful things.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Castiel/Dean Winchester, Castiel/Sam Winchester, Lisa Braeden/Dean Winchester</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>After The End</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>my friend ava asked for a spell to get a better spn ending and while i am not capable of performing magic, i did grow up on supernatural so i gave it an attempt. a lot of this is inspired by various tumblr posts ive seen. it was originally supposed to be a very short joke fic with a punchline and everything, but instead i offer you this</p><p>fair warning: the destiel here is unrequited. big f in the chat for november's biggest event</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Saving the world was no easy feat, but the Winchesters considered themselves pros at this point. They </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>done it, after all. But then there was the matter of what came after. How do you transition from such high stakes as saving the world to, well, not that?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dean thought for sure he had an answer. </span>
  <em>
    <span>A pie festival.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Not even Sam could disagree with that. It was a nice break, a nice little treat. Mostly for Dean, but also for him. Because even though he felt disconnected… empty…. sad… he also longed for an excuse to get Dean to shut his piehole. And what better way than shoving a pie in his face?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It felt like the old days. Like back when Dean first picked him up to go find their dad. Well, not the Jessica part. It didn’t feel like what had happened with Jessica at all. It was just less stressful than knowing the weight of the world rested on your shoulders, than knowing you no longer had a soul, than getting addicted to demon blood, than… than many times.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a moment of happiness. A grab at nostalgia that didn’t immediately turn into a garbage fire. Maybe it would later, but it hadn’t yet. And, well, what more could he ask for?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Dean sat there, shamelessly eating pie off of his face, Sam grabbed one for himself and quietly sat in his own thoughts with a smile on his face for once. The pie-in-face move was not as elegant as back in Richardson, where he’d superglued a beer bottle to Dean’s hand, but he had plenty of time for pranks like those later. Finally, he had time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They end up finding a job. A real job. Not a real-real job, but the kind of job </span>
  <em>
    <span>they </span>
  </em>
  <span>do. One that’s not just eating pie. One drained for blood, one missing their tongue and two kids missing. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Mimics, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Dean suggests. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Vampires, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Sam replies.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They track two of them down and Sam’s right. Sam often is.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One of the vampires is Jenny. Dean recognizes her and, well, she’s hot. So he tells her, because that’s what he does. He’s that generous. She accepts the compliment, but does not plan to let him go.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sam doesn’t let the fact that Jenny’s presence hits him like yet another wave of nostalgia that he once again doesn’t expect – especially after such a climactic showdown, leaving him feeling as if he was on the final episode of some cheesy tv show that should have ended ten seasons ago, where the showrunners now desperately cling onto what the series had in the early days in a hope that it satisfies old fans as well as new – stop him from decapitating her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nice,” Dean says and holds his hand up for a high five.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sam high fives him in the same motion as he goes to decapitate yet another one of the vampires. There’s still a lot of them left and he knows it’s a stupid thing to stop for, but he knows Dean is going to get back into things much quicker (and complain much less later) if he just gets it over with.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They eventually fight off all of the vampires. Well, most of the vampires. There’s two left. One of them is engaged with Sam and he’s engaged with it back, so he doesn’t notice as the other one goes to push Dean back on a rusty nail protruding from a pillar.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Bang.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The loud noise of a gunshot rings through the relatively small vicinity before Dean’s impaled. A bullet, one laced with dead man’s blood, hits the vampire pushing Dean. Once Dean’s a safe distance from certain (boring) death, he decapitates the vampire. Then he turns to the source of the gunshot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There, in the door, is a face he never thought he’d see again. “Cas?” He barely manages to choke the word out, but he does run to his angel with a gun (and not a shotgun, luckily).</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dean.” Castiel puts his hand on Dean’s shoulder. “It is good to see you again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You son of a bitch,” Dean laughs, relieved to have his best friend (well, second best; Sammy’s his best friend) back. “It’s good to see you too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sam wipes his machete clean from blood and stands next to the two of them with his arms folded over his chest and a smile resting on his lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s uh… there’s something I need to say, Cas. You know how when you died, you told me you loved me? And how I didn’t say it back?” Dean asks, and Castiel nods in return. “Well, it wasn’t because I don’t, I was just… afraid? I… I love you too. I’m </span>
  <em>
    <span>in love </span>
  </em>
  <span>with you too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cas scratches the back of his head. “Aw, man. This is awkward. We have a bond, Dean, we do. A very special one. And I love you, I really do. But… just not like that? I’m kind of into someone else, but I hope we can still be friends?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dean coughs and takes a few steps back. “Yeah. Yeah, of course man. It's just a j– yeah, no. It’s good, we’re good.” Dammit. Maybe cowardice </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>the way forward after all. “But hey, if you need a wingman, hit me up, yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I will if I need to.” Dean watches as Cas’ eyes wander to somewhere behind Dean. “Do I need to?” He asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Confused, Dean turns to follow Cas’ gaze. What he sees is Sam with a huge grin on his face as he shakes his head. The two of them meet in a kiss and Dean groans, before making his way back outside to his car. Since Sam gets the angel, Dean will </span>
  <em>
    <span>never </span>
  </em>
  <span>let him pick the music ever again. That only seems fair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A few months later, Dean sits at a bar alone. He’s drinking a glass of whiskey and processing the last many years of his life. His failures, his successes. His mistakes. His regrets. It’s not necessarily a bad thing; he just needs that sometimes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Someone pokes his shoulder. He puts on a smile and greets whoever is asking for his attention before even looking up. “What can I do for you, sweetheart?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What he sees is something that stops his heartbeat. No. Not something. Someone. His biggest failure, his biggest success, his biggest mistake and his biggest regret.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lisa Braeden smiles at him and takes a seat by the bar next to him. “I think you owe me a drink,” she says. “After all, you </span>
  <em>
    <span>did </span>
  </em>
  <span>crash into my car.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He swallows and when he tries to answer her, his jaw drops open. What is he supposed to say to the woman who doesn’t remember how fiercely he loved her and how fiercely she loved him back? </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘Hi, you’re the love of my life, the only person who’s ever made me settle down, the only person who’s ever made me want to settle down, and I thought I was contempt with never seeing you again, knowing you’d be safe from me and the heartbreak and pain that comes with being with me, but now you’re right in front of me and despite usually being smooth with women, I can’t find a single word to say’</span>
  </em>
  <span> doesn’t seem quite right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A laugh escapes his lips and he can only hope it doesn’t sound too hopeful (or on the other hand, too bittersweet). “Of course,” he tells her. He buys her a drink, then another one. By the end of the night, he has her phone number. He also has a smile on his lips that won’t quite fade and a hope for a future, different than the one he always envisioned. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>has</span>
  </em>
  <span> saved people. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>has</span>
  </em>
  <span> hunted things. And now? Maybe he deserves finding happiness in something else.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thank you for reading!</p><p>if you too have "watched supernatural growing up, abandoned it and is now back at it again" disease (this goes for both the back at it again as a joke and the for serious variety), feel free to idk cry or yell about it in the comments or hmu on tumblr @krayonders</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>